Incivility and the Modern Presidency: Empirical and Normative Considerations

• In Event: Civil Discourse and Social Media in Contemporary American Politics

Abstract

As scholarly interest in political incivility has grown, relatively little attention has been paid to U.S. presidents—perhaps because the norms of the office are likely to make presidential incivility rare. With Donald Trump breaking many presidential norms, however, it might behoove scholars to look more closely at the nature of incivility vis-à-vis the presidency. This paper takes an initial step in this direction by exploring three questions in the context of the modern presidency (Franklin Roosevelt to Trump): How have presidents characterized incivility? To what extent have they employed uncivil language? What are the normative implications of presidential incivility?

Authors

• Kevin Coe, University of Utah

• Dakota Park-Ozee, University of Texas at Austin